From old railways to an oasis of art, food and nature: how an eco-park was born in Greater Manchester — SkimNews
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- Northern Roots is converting a 65-hectare (160-acre) Oldham site — once home to cotton mills, coalmines, and an industrial railway, with ~24 hectares formerly a tip — into what it aims to make the UK's largest urban farm and eco-park
- On 19 September, the charity opens a new public facility including a cafe, shop, production kitchen, performance space, forestry skills centre, outdoor play areas, and an urban farm
- NHS England commissioned Northern Roots' Natural Health Service, which launched in 2023 as a six-month pilot with patients from Hill Top GP surgery in Fitton Hill and now supports people experiencing mental health challenges through foraging, bushcraft, and nature connection sessions
- Independent NHS research published in 2025 found Natural Health Service participants improved their wellbeing scores by an average of 8.15 points on the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, generating an estimated £4,940 in social value per participant
- The charity aims to attract 300,000 visitors a year by 2030 and dispense hundreds of Natural Health Service social prescriptions
- Anna da Silva, Northern Roots' founder and chief executive, said urban green space should be treated as 'critical infrastructure' in the same way as hospitals and schools, calling for commissioner investment comparable to built infrastructure
Why it matters: Northern Roots is making a concrete case — backed by NHS-published data showing an 8.15-point wellbeing improvement and £4,940 in social value per participant — that post-industrial land can deliver measurable mental health outcomes, offering a template da Silva explicitly designed for replication across similar sites in the UK.
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